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Contested Geographies


Mexican cities are embedded in the country’s complex history and its unique geography, which includes majestic mountain ranges, valleys, deserts, and coastal cities as well as a capital city built on a lake. Although social, economical, and political forces have undeniably influenced the morphology and ecology of cities and regions, often producing conflict and contestation over the control of resources, we proceed from the assumption that geographic landscapes and ecosystems can also produce new social and spatial synergies. With a focus on the constituent elements and boundaries of Mexico’s multiple landscapes and ecologies,  the MCI is committed to understanding how urban metabolism is constituted by both the natural and built environment. With a focus on the geographic, climatic, and ecological functions of cities and regions, the MCI introduces the landscape dimension into territorial representations of contemporary urbanization.